What shouldI do regarding the questioning ofsomeome against whomI have a judgment at a hearing to discover assets?
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What shouldI do regarding the questioning ofsomeome against whomI have a judgment at a hearing to discover assets?
I recently took a woman to court because I had babysat for her and I won my judgement in the amount of $500. She had 30 days to pay, and never did. So I filed a citation to discover assets and she didn’t not appear to the first court date because of a medical excuse. Now we have another one for next month. I’m not sure what to do at court? I also know she does home health care for her parents and gets unemployment. Am I wasting my time and money here?
Asked on July 15, 2011 under Bankruptcy Law, Illinois
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
The proceeding that you have coming up against the person you have a judgment against is a proceeding to discover what assets she has so you can get your $500.00 paid off. In some States it is called an order of examination.
Assuming she attends the next proceeding, she will be sworn under oath to answer your questions as to her assets. For starters, you should ask her for the name, location (address) of all banks she has accounts at (checking or savings), the account numbers, names and addresses of all employers, names and addresses of people who owe her money, names and addresses of her parents that she does home care for, location of stock brokerage accounts as well as other things of value.
Perhaps she will voluntarily agree to make monthly payments to you. If she does, keep a copy of all checks she pays you with in that the cancelled check may show you a location of where other bank accounts she has for future collection proceedings if need be.
If she fails to show at the next proceeding, you should ask the court to issue a bench warrant for her appearance. If that happens, a sheriff can be sent to arrest her, she has to post bail for the appearence she did not attend and the court could have the bail money given to you.
With the information you get, you then have to file papers to collect on her assets. As you can see, getting a judgment is half the battle against someone. Collection on it can be very challenging.
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